"A Certifiable Manager," Engineering Management, Feature Article, March 2004

engineering management

a certifiable manager

An ASME program, expected to begin next year, addresses the particular needs of engineering managers.

by Jean Thilmany,
Associate Editor

Engineers become managers to broaden their horizons, to learn new job skills, and to reap increased rewards that go along with management jobs. Many have no specific training in management skills. And unless they have an MBA, they have few credentials.

A new effort by ASME has as its goals an objective measure of engineering managers' skills and a certification of their abilities.

Chor Tan, the managing director of education at ASME, is coordinating the work of practicing experts who will create an evaluation mechanism, a test that will assess the abilities of managers. Engineers who pass the test will become certified in writing.

Tan wants to enlist other prominent engineering societies in the program. He said he has presented the idea to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers.

Before they can register for the test, engineering managers will have to meet a number of requirements, Tan said. They will need a degree in an engineering discipline, as well as several years of practical experience in engineering and management. The number of years of experience hasn't yet been set.

As certified managers, they will agree to uphold a code of ethnical conduct spelled out through the certification program. They will have to maintain certification through continuing education classes and other activities that ensure they're staying on top of changes in their field.

Tan expects the first certification tests to be open in early 2005 to engineering managers in the United States and China. He added, however, that because industry today is global, the certification program will eventually be offered to engineers everywhere.

"Once you're certified, you'll have the credentials to put behind your name," he said. "You can use that just like any other certified person. It says that you have met a requirement."

Of the nearly two million engineers working in the United States, Tan estimates that about 215,000 of them work as managers. In China, he estimates the number of engineering managers at around 700,000.

Although there is much about the job of engineering manager that mirrors other management jobs, much about it is unique, Tan said. Those in engineering need to apply engineering principles and skills to organize technical projects and to organize the people who do those technical jobs.

He defined engineering management as the art and science of planning, organizing, and allocating resources to direct and control activities that have a technological component.

Only recently have many colleges and universities implemented specialized management engineering tracks to train students in those special skills, he added.

"Many of those engineering managers take a course here or there," Tan said. "But not too many can take time off to get a degree as they work in their careers."

By becoming certified, managers prove that they meet standards for competent engineering managers. The program also gives employers a way to ensure that their managers meet a consistent level of quality.

An ASME steering committee made up of engineering managers is developing the certification test. Their work is informed by comments from another group of engineering managers. A third group will look over the test before it is administered.

Staffers in the ASME Continuing Education Institute are developing courses that will prepare engineers for the certification test. Tan said the certification test and the preparatory courses are developed separately.